Whheewww, child. I know it’s been a while. I would like to thank my followers who have reached out to ask me if I’m okay or if I need any emotional support. Truly. I am so sorry I’ve been MIA. First week of my dream internship is done, and I really do love every minute of it. The people, the other intern, and the work. Where I am in Baltimore is a biiiiiittttt suspect, but I’m also only a 10 minute walk to work, so you win some and you lose some. Once I have my affairs in order, I’ll start a new tab for Baltimore eateries. I will also continue to keep you updated about my adventures in London. As for the natural hair… I’m going to hold off on that new column. It’s going to be a little bumpy for the next couple of weeks, but we’ll get through this together :).
BUT, this is not a post about me. This is about one of my new favorite restaurants. If you know me, you know how much I love love love (when it comes to food): my mom’s food, latin american cuisine, spanish cuisine, tacos without the shell, mediterranean cuisine, sushi, hibachi, and trashy $8 dinner specials american-chinese take out. Even if you didn’t know me, now you do. You’re welcome.
So, I was super excited to come across this cute gem, La Tasca. My friend had come in from Kansas to visit yours truly, so we ate a lot, we drank a lot, and we watched TV a lot. La Tasca was one of 2 notable places that I decided to blog about.
When we went, it was pretty empty. We also went after the lunch rush in the middle of the week. People started pouring in towards happy hour though. The waitress was a delight. I like how she actually was from Spain. The other waitress who served our food was from Colombia. Not sure why, but I enjoy when a restaurant (either by coincidence or intention) employs people from the cuisine location.
My friend and I used the lunch menu and decided to split two tapas and a paella, in addition to getting two sangrias.
She’s boooorrriinngg, so she got a dry red sangria. Not that people who get dry red sangrias are boring, she just happened to not want to try anything new, even though I suggested lots of other flavors. My personal fave is the cava sangria, because your girl loves prosecco. I’m not the biggest fan of blueberries, but I love all fruits when they’re in wine. Next time, I’m getting the Mango Blackberry, because does that not sound amazing???
For our tapas, we got the Bistec, cooked medium or medium well. The “fries” were two potato wedges (I only like french fries when they’re in the form of super crispy and tater tots and chips). And a spicy sauce. The Haitian in me loves spicy, but I let out a couple of coughs upon the first taste. It really had a kick.Ask me about the time I thought I was a daredevil and ate a spoon of Habanero sauce in Mexico. Wow.
The steak was amazing too. I was eating it slowly to savor the taste, and she asked if I was going to finish it! So rude.
The other tapa was the Albodigas, the lamb meatballs. I love lamb. I prefer it ground, but a good seared lamb shank with a green harissa spot will hit the spot 10 out of 10 times. The meatballs were cooked in a tomato sauce and topped with some goat cheese. The meatballs were the melt-in-your-mouth variety and at that point in time, life was gooood.
We didn’t get the Calamares… which I really wanted. I love calamari. But my friend does not like the idea of breaded fried squid. I just let out a deep sigh. Next time I’m taking my mother, because she LOVES calamari.
Lastly, we got the vegetarian paella. The paella was my favorite, by far. Came in a cast iron pan and the lunch size was enough to feed the two of us (along with the other tapas).
I’m never sure how to best describe paella except that when I was in Spain, that was primarily all I ate. It’s like having a taste of wonderful in your mouth. And La Tasca’s paella was no different. I love a good rice. The perfect amounts of moist and sticky but not soggy. Maybe it’s the saffron that I truly enjoy. No kidding, this has been the best paella I’ve had outside of Spain. I loved it so much, I called my parents and told them that we need to go the location by us, in Rockville. My dad is not a fan of Spanish dishes or latin-american cuisine, but he LOVES a good paella. So I hope he will enjoy it as much as I did.
Towards the end of the summer, I’m taking my mom to the paella making class La Tasca offers, and I am pumped. So definitely stay tuned.
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